Again this is the difference of seeing a Sacrament (Baptism in this case) as a once and done...as though it does its job immediately and is never seen again, much like a single annual flower.
In Catholicism, Baptism begins with the turning away from Original Sin, from disobedience to obedience. The etymology of 'repentance' is to turn away, have a change of heart. Baptism is efficacious, meaning it is capable of producing a result, that change of heart from worldly ways (the sin of Adam and Eve) to obedience to God (life in Christ). God's grace and justification has accomplished this, and now the baby is ready, as it grows, to walk in the Way of Salvation, the Way of Christ, with his/her family.
I don't want to misstate your position, but once again it sounds like you believe God's grace is automatic, whether an individual wants it or not. That's actually very similar to what Calvinists believe, and I might ruffle some feathers here for saying this, but I believe Calvinism is flat out demonic.
If infant baptism is true and biblical, then there would be examples of it in the Bible.... at least one. But I have never seen even one example of infant baptism in the Bible.
There are, however, many examples of grown people being water baptized, who understand repentance and have given their heart to God. Willingly. On their own volition. Not because it was thrust upon them by someone else.
In Judaism, the first born son was dedicated/consecrated to the service of God. We see this when Hannah gave her three-year-old son to Samuel to be raised in the Temple instead of with his parents. Other children, after the first born, were not dedicated. In fact some only got the leavings of the first born son. So no, the original purpose of dedication is not similar to baptism.
I didn't say that the purpose of dedication is similar to water baptism. They are two entirely different purposes. But
infant baptism specifically and infant dedication are similar in the sense that it makes the parents feel good about their choice to introduce their child to God and raise them in God's ways.
Nor does dedication bring forth the graces and justification that come from baptism alone.
^ This sounds very close to saying infant baptism saves a person, which you stated you don't believe, last night.
I think one of the problems here is we're going by different definitions of words, and if we're not on the same page as far as definitions go, there's bound to be confusion.
Maybe you can state the Catholic definition of Justification. But the Christian definition of Justification is when God pronounces a sinner to be righteous because of that sinner’s faith in Christ. It's basically the moment of salvation.
In the New Testament, Justification is associated with faith in Jesus and what Jesus did for us.
But even in the Old Testament, long before Jesus, Justification was linked to faith.
"Abram believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness." - Genesis 15:6
And a baby cannot choose to put their faith in Jesus, or repent.
IF you believe that God's Grace is automatic and the person being baptized has no say in the matter, then although I believe that's unbiblical, at least that clarifies your view on it, which up to this point has been very vague and religious sounding, for lack of a better word.
